1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a region segmentation apparatus, computer program and method for dividing an image into an object region and the other region by using a graph cut technique.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, graph cut was known as a method for dividing an image into an object region and the other region. As one of region segmentation methods by graph cut, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-205067 (Patent Document 1) proposes setting plural different tentative initial regions in an image, creating probability distribution models of pixel values in the inside and the outside of each of the tentative initial regions, setting, as an initial region, a tentative initial region having a highest degree of separation between the probability distribution model of the inside and the probability distribution model of the outside, and performing region segmentation processing by graph cut by using the set initial region.
Further, Y. Y. Boykov and M. P. Jolly, “Interactive Graph Cuts for Optimal Boundary & Region Segmentation of Objects in N-D Images”, Proceedings of “International Conference on Computer Vision”, Vol. I, pp. 105-112, 2001 (Non-Patent Document 1) proposes a method for dividing an image into an object region and a background region by using a probability that each pixel represents the object region or the background region, which has been calculated based on information about a pixel representing the object region in the image and a pixel representing the background region in the image, and the information having been given by a user.